Why Pills & Coke From Cherry Looks So Familiar
War can do terrible things to people — things worse than death. That's what Anthony and Joe Russo's new film, Cherry, is all about: the before, during, and after a soldier's experiences. Leading man Tom Holland considers it his hardest role yet (as of February 2021), and it's hard to blame him; saying his character goes through the wringer doesn't quite cut it.
Incredibly enough, the film is based off a book of the same name by Iraq veteran Nico Walker, who himself experienced and did much of what his protagonist experiences and does: the PTSD, the drug addiction, the bank robbing. He wrote the novel on a typewriter while behind bars over a period of several years.
According to Walker, "The people in the book aren't people I knew — they're archetypes," via Rolling Stone. The same will obviously hold true for characters in the Russo brothers' film, including Pills & Coke, played by Jack Reynor. If the actor seems familiar to you, here's where you may have seen him before.
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, or call the National Alliance on Mental Illness Helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264).
Jack Reynor garnered well-deserved attention with What Richard Did
The camaraderie that often comes with being on a team together is something to hold onto dearly, something that could spin off into a lifelong friendship. High school rugby players Richard Karlsen (Reynor) and Conor Harris (Sam Keeley) have that kind of connection in What Richard Did. With a title like that, though, you know things are going to turn sour before even watching the film... and boy, do they turn sour. Richard has his eye on Conor's girlfriend Lara Hogan (Róisín Murphy), and eventually decides to make a move despite his bond with Conor. Things snowball from there as you might expect, but then something happens no one would've expected — no spoilers beyond that.
What Richard Did is obviously a very character-driven film, with much of the focus on the actors and their performances. It's one of Reynor's first roles, quickly establishing his talent. He won and was nominated for multiple awards for his performance as Richard, putting him on the map as a thespian to watch out for.
Reynor fought alongside the Autobots in Transformers: Age of Extinction
Exploding onto screens in 2007, Michael Bay's live-action Transformers franchise doesn't at all try to hide what it is: a rip-roaring, earache-inducing cavalcade of giant robots beating the ever-living pulp out of other giant robots. With 2014's Transformers: Age of Extinction, the fourth installment in the series, a fairly drastic change is made: protagonist Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) is replaced by Cade Yaeger (Mark Wahlberg). The two men couldn't be more different, and thus they keep much different company.
Shane Dyson (Reynor), a supremely talented rally car driver, is the kind of company Cade doesn't want to keep, but also doesn't get a vote, as the young man just so happens to be his daughter Tessa's (Nicola Peltz) boyfriend. Since they all get mixed up into the Transformers' mess, however, the two men have little choice but to work together and get to know one another. Shane's skills certainly come in handy as things go awry, and Reynor's performance helps add a human element to the otherwise largely bombastic film.
Jack Reynor took care of his family in Glassland
Stories love to mine the depths of parent-child relationships — both the positive and negative aspects. What better way to connect to the audience? Family, whether related by blood or not, is oftentimes the basis of who we were, who we are, and who we will become. The struggles of a fictional family can feel all too real when done well, as is the case with Glassland. The film maintains an intense focus on the bond between an alcoholic mother, Jean (Toni Collette), and her son John (Reynor).
Living in Dublin, John does his best to make ends meet as a taxi driver, supporting both his mother and his brother (born with Down syndrome). Jean's addiction, of course, doesn't make things easy; their traditional roles have been reversed, the son now taking care of the mother despite both being relatively young. The film is a rough watch emotionally, but well worth it thanks to the performances alone. Indeed, multiple film awards committees recognized Reynor for his work.
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse and mental health, please contact SAMHSA's 24-hour National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
Reynor displayed untapped ambition in Strange Angels
Author George Pendle's Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Parsons is just about as crazy as a biography can get; Mark Heyman's TV adaptation Strange Angel, starring Jack Reynor in the titular role, harnesses all that energy for the small screen. It has to, because in his 37 years on Earth, Parsons was many things: accomplished chemist, renowned rocket engineer, Thelemite occultist, and much, much more. It's a demanding role for Reynor, and he nails it.
The series sees Parsons begin on the bottom rung, but, like the rockets he would soon patent, he rises to the top through a combination of dedication, diligence, and pure, unadulterated ambition. Not everything he does is condoned by the scientific community he grows to be a part of, but no one can deny his raw intelligence. Strange Angel was unfortunately canceled after only two seasons, but Parsons remains one of Reynor's most unique performances to date.
Jack Reynor was part of a trip gone wrong in Midsommar
When most people plan to travel, they probably have a few things in mind: the food, the culture, the sites, and so on and so forth. When cultural anthropology student Christian Hughes (Reynor) plans to travel to Sweden with his friends Josh (William Jackson Harper) and Mark (Will Poulter) in Midsommar, he has only one thing in mind: break up with his girlfriend Dani Arbor (Florence Pugh) before leaving. She finds out about the trip, however, and tags along... to her detriment.
Dani's had a difficult life, having lost her sister Terri (Klaudia Csányi) and her parents to suicide, but staying with Christian only makes things worse. He's the model of a bad boyfriend, and when the horror of their Swedish sojourn kicks in, he's unsurprisingly of no help to Dani. They attend a near-centennial celebration at the Hårga so that Christian can write his college thesis on it, but he has little time to write with everything that happens. Good boyfriend or not, let's just say he gets what's coming to him and leave it at that.
Jack Reynor will debut as Pills & Coke when Cherry releases in theaters on February 26, and later on AppleTV+ on March 12, 2021.